THE-DREAM SCORES FIRST #1 SINGLE WITH “FALSETTO”; JOINS MARY J. BLIGE & JAY-Z ON “HEART OF THE CITY” NO. AMERICAN TOUR, OPENING MARCH 22nd IN MIAMI

With his first #1 Urban single under his belt, “Falsetto” – follow-up to his first smash “Shawty Is A 10” – both from his debut album LOVE HATE, Def Jam recording artist The-Dream is about to undertake the first major cross-country North American tour of his career.  The-Dream will join Mary J. Blige and JAY-Z for their “Heart Of The City” tour, opening March 22nd at American Airlines Arena in Miami.  The 22-city U.S. and Canadian tour is scheduled to end on May 7th with the last of 3 homecoming concerts at Madison Square Garden in New York City.  (Please see initial tour dates below.)

            “Falsetto” breaks to #1 this week on the R&R/BDS and Mediabase Urban charts at, while moving to #16 -bullet on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay chart, with audience over 55 million and 6,300+ spins.  Just prior to the December 11th release of LOVE HATE, “Shawty Is A 10” jumped inside the Top 10 on the Hot 100, Urban, and Rhythmic charts. 

            LOVE HATE, co-produced by The-Dream and Tricky Stewart, contains the explicit alternate remix, “Shawty Is da Shit! (10)” featuring Fabolous.  The video of this version hit Top 5 rotation on BET’s #1-rated countdown show, “106 & Park.”  As of this week, “Falsetto” is in rotation on BET, MTV Hits, and VH1 Soul.  The song continues to build at New Media: #103 on the Digital Songs chart with nearly 15,000 scans last week, and over 113,000 total.  The-Dream has 2.5+ million profile views on his MySpace site, with close to 6,600 friends, and 1.8 million total plays. Digital Mobile Sales topped 50,000 units last week, over 344,000 total in 14 weeks.

            The-Dream made everyone’s A-list in 2007 – as the songwriter behind two of the year’s biggest hits, Rihanna’s worldwide #1 smash “Umbrella” and J. Holiday’s breakout debut “Bed.” Recently, he penned Mariah Carey’s new smash single “Touch My Body.” Rolling Stone’s “Hot List” described him as “the hook master….the guy who got everybody singing ‘ella ella ay ay ay’ all summer,” and the young singer, songwriter, producer and entrepreneur has also been featured in Vibe’s “Next,” Billboard’s “Breaking & Entering,” The Fader’s “Gen F,” BET’s “Rated Next,” and MTV’s “Discover & Download.”  Blender has already named LOVE HATE the #7 album of the year.

            In addition to The-Dream’s unprecedented success as the writer of “Umbrella,” “Bed,” and “Touch My Body,” his name is also attached to several other current high profile releases: “You” from Chris Brown’s current album Exclusive; “Skies of L.A.,” the climactic closing track of Celine Dion’s new album Taking Chances; “Just Fine,” the first single from Mary J. Blige’s album Growing Pains; and “Moving Mountains” from the upcoming Usher album.

            While The-Dream (Terius Youngdell Nash) seemed like the overnight success story of 2007, he’s been at it for the better part of a decade.  After meeting and partnering with fellow-Atlantian Tricky Stewart, the two soon achieved notoriety as writer/producers on B2K’s Pandemonium! album, and “Me Against The Music,” the timely 2003 duet by Britney Spears and Madonna.  Four years later, The-Dream and Tricky “are suddenly one of the most in-demand songwriting teams in urban music,” according to USA Today. 

            Right now, it’s all about LOVE HATE.  “It’s more of what I’m giving other people,” The-Dream says of his masterwork.  “All of my records are singles.  The album is really visual as well, it appeals to all your senses… Artists are gonna have to do some homework to find out who they are.”

 “HEART OF THE CITY” TOUR with JAY-Z, MARY J. BLIGE, and THE-DREAM

Date                      City                                   Venue                              

March  22              Miami, FL                          American Airlines Arena

            24              Orlando, FL                       Amway Arena

            26              Baltimore, MD                   1st Mariner Arena

            27              Uniondale, NY                   Nassau Veterans Coliseum

            28              E. Rutherford, NJ               Izod Center

            30              Philadelphia, PA                 Wachovia Center

April     2                Toronto, Ont.                     Air Canada Center

            3                Boston, MA                       TD Banknorth Garden

            5                Greensboro, NC                Greensboro Coliseum

            6                Washington, DC                 Verizon Center

            8                Atlanta, GA                        Phillips Arena

            9                New Orleans, LA               New Orleans Arena

            10              Houston, TX                      Toyota Center

            12              Dallas, TX                          Superpages.com Center

            15              Phoenix, AZ                       US Airways Center

            16              Los Angeles, CA                Hollywood Bowl

            18              Irvine, CA                          Verizon Ampitheater

            19              Las Vegas, NV                  MGM Grand Garden Arena

            20              Oakland, CA                      Oracle

            23              Denver, CO                       Pepsi Arena

            25              Detroit, MI                         Joe Louis Arena

            26              Chicago, IL                        United Center

            27              Chicago, IL                        United Center        

May     2                New York, NY                  Madison Square Garden

            3                Atlantic City, NJ                 Boardwalk Hall

            6                New York, NY                  Madison Square Garden

            7                New York, NY                  Madison Square Garden

THE ROOTS GET POLITICAL ON ‘RISING DOWN’, SET FOR APRIL 29 RELEASE

Grammy award winning hip-hop trailblazers The Roots are set to release Rising Down on April 29th via Def Jam Recordings. Known for their prolific lyrics and live instrumentation, the Legendary Philadelphia crew is composed of Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter (vocals), Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson (drums), Kamal Gray (keyboards), Frank Knuckles (percussion), Kirk “Captain Kirk” Douglas (guitar) and Owen Biddle (bass).  Garnering critical praise throughout their career, The Roots have firmly established themselves as a band with uncompromised artistic control and integrity.  With Rising Down, the band’s 10th album release, The Roots continue to take bolder steps adding new depths and range to their repertoire.

The Roots co-founder ?uestlove states, “This is probably our most political album to date dealing with addiction, nihilism, hypocritical double standards in the prison system and overall life in Philadelphia .  I’d say it’s more mature and intense than all of our efforts but not a ‘downer’ as most people expect us to do.”

The political nature of Rising Down is not only heard within the music.  The title comes from William T. Vollmann’s treatise on violence entitled Rising Up and Rising Down, and the release date falls on the 16th anniversary of the Los Angeles riots sparked by the acquittal of the police officers accused of beating Rodney King.

Standout tracks include: “Criminal” a reflection of life on the streets and unjust persecution, “I Will Not Apologize” a tribute to Fela Kuti that discusses keeping dignity in the music biz and “I Can’t Help It” a look at addictions and urges that compel us all.  The pop-infused first single- “Birthday Girl”- features Fall Out Boy frontman Patrick Stump.  Additional guests on the album include Common, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Saigon, Dice Raw, Wale, Chrisette Michele and more (see track listing below).

Director Rik Cordero recently shot a video for the track “75 Bars (Black’s Reconstruction)” in New York City .  The hard-hitting track, recorded in one take, features Black Thought rapping 75 bars straight.  Check out the video here: http://videos.onsmash.com/v/qttzjQ74zTJtWZ4P <http://videos.onsmash.com/v/qttzjQ74zTJtWZ4P> .  A video for “Get Busy” was also shot by Cordero and finds The Roots taking over an office space.  The song revisits golden-era, East Coast hip-hop with the return of the boom-bap and synths to add the modern edge.  The video can be streamed here: http://videos.onsmash.com/v/b6lVAXc7ldjfdHNt <http://videos.onsmash.com/v/b6lVAXc7ldjfdHNt> .
 
Rising Down track listing with notes from ?uestlove:

The Pow Wow
Rising Down- feat. Mos Def and Styles P
Get Busy- feat. Dice Raw, Peedi Crack and DJ Jazzy Jeff
@15
75 Bars (Black’s Reconstruction)
(Time Up)
Criminal- feat. Saigon and Truck North
I Will Not Apologize- feat. P.O.R.N. and Dice Raw
I Can’t Help It- feat. Malik B and P.O.R.N.
Singing Man- feat. Truck North and P.O.R.N.
Up There (Unwritten)- feat. Mercedes Martinez
Lost Desire- feat. Talib Kweli and Malik B
The Show- feat. Common
Rising Up- feat. Chrisette Michelle and Wale
Birthday Girl- feat. Patrick Stump
 
The Roots recently returned from Southeast Asia and have confirmed a slew of US tour dates this year including several festivals and universities.  Dates confirmed include:
 
March
7              Langerado Music Festival                   Homestead , FL
8              House of Blues                                      Lake Buena Vista , FL
9              Jannus Landing                                    St. Petersburg , FL
12            Kompleks Taman Ria Senayan           Jakarta , Indonesia
14            Mosaic Music Festival                        Singapore
15            Sunburst Music Festival                     Kuala Lumpur , Malaysia
29             Millikin University                               Decatur , IL
30            Kool Haus                                              Toronto , ON
 
April
5               University of Texas                              Austin , TX
7               Indiana University                                Bloomington , IN
9              Higher Ground                                       Burlington , VT
11            Pickle Barrel                                           Killington , VT
12            Northeastern University                      Boston , MA
16             Purdue University                                 West Lafayette , IN
17             Carnegie Mellon University                Pittsburgh , PA
18            Webster University                             St. Louis, MO
20            Green Apple Festival                            Washington , DC
23             Duke University                                    Durham , NC
24            The Music Farm                                    Charleston , SC
25            Amos                                                      Charlotte , NC
26             Tigerfest Towson University              Towson , MD
 
May
3              Jazz & Heritage Festival                       New Orleans , LA
4              House of Blues                                      New Orleans , LA
 
August
8              All Points West                                    Jersey City , NJ

* all dates subject to change # # #
 
www.theroots.com <http://www.theroots.com/>

TRUTH UNIVERSAL SET TO RELEASE DEBUT, SELF DETERMINATION, ON 4-8-08

Born in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, Truth immigrated to the U.S. in 1977 with his parents at the age of 4. Growing up in New Orleans, LA, Truth learned early lessons of respect, discipline and perseverance from his working-class Caribbean upbringing.

 

TU was exposed to large amounts of Calypso, Soca, Reggae, Jazz and R&B at a very early age and as the years passed, he and all of his friends became heavily involved in hip-hop. At age 9, his family moved to the New Orleans East 9th Ward, and Truth began to immerse himself in the multiple roles of B-Boy, DJ, Producer and Emcee. Over time, he would become an energetic showman, with a veteran stage presence and crowd control.

 

In early 2006 Truth approached Paris with his work-in-progress debut album project and impressed Paris so much he quickly became a member Paris’ Guerrilla Funk family (Truth’s sophomore LP, Decolonization, is slated to be released in October 2008 on Paris’ Guerilla Funk label). Fully embodying Truth Universal’s social and political awareness, Self Determination, is a tour de force which showcases his DIY attitude and his West Indian and New Orleans backgrounds.  Self Determination encourages dialogue on topics that trouble communities of color across the planet.  Truth touches on self-hatred, the struggle New Orleans residents to attain the right to return to their homes “post Katrina, “culture theft, policies of “the George Bush regime,” the Prison systems inequities and big business mentality.

 

Even with such serious topic matters being addressed, Truth always keeps his eyes on the prize with Self Determination and delivers his insightful and informative verses in an entertaining (edutainment) fashion and that is verified by collaborations with Wise Intelligent (formerly of Poor Righteous Teachers), Digable Planet’s Doodlebug and Dead Prez’s Stic.Man.  Further, Truth enlists a top-notch assortment of producers as well; including Panik from The Molemen, S1 of Strange Fruit (S1 has previously worked with Little Brother and Erykah Badu), Nick Tha 1da (who works with Raheem Devaughn) and Bass Heavy who has worked with BG, Soulja Slim and is an in-house producer @ Mannie Fresh’ Fatboy Records.

 

Truth Universal’s debut, Self Determination, will be released on 4-8-08 by Dragon’s Breath Records.

FOUL MOUTH JERK RETURNS WITH HIS FOURTH FULL-LENGTH LP STREETLIGHT MUSIC

Once again back is the incredible rhyme animal known as the Foul Mouth Jerk.  Foul Mouth Jerk is an independent Hip-Hop artist raised in northern New Jersey. Growing up in the late 80’s & early 90’s, he participated in what is often referred to as Hip-Hop’s “Golden Age.” FMJ began rapping in 1988 and he spent his high school years battling fellow emcees in parks, school cafeterias and street corner cyphers. Later he would cut his teeth on stage at open mic’s in Newark & Manhattan and perform at various parties around NJ & NYC.

 Not long after graduating FMJ decided to see as much of the world as possible and began traveling the country, earning gas and food money as a street performer, freestyling over the hand drums of his traveling partner. This vagabond journey took FMJ to numerous cities around the US, from Burlington VT, to Miami, from Boulder, Colorado to New Orleans famous French Quarter.

 It was along these travels that Foul Mouth met the people with whom he would later form the hip hop/funk collective GFE. In 1997 the group based itself out of the mountains of Asheville, North Carolina & began recording as an eight piece live band. The band began touring nationally shortly thereafter playing in nearly every state in the union, at clubs, colleges & festivals. They opened for such legends as Run DMC and P-Funk, as well as current stars such as Mos Def, Talib Kweli, and Atmosphere. The group has also recorded with such heavyweights as George Clinton, Eric Krasno of Soulive and Tame One.

Foul Mouth has maintained a steady work ethic throughout his ten-plus years as a professional musician, touring & recording with GFE and as a soloist.  He currently has four full length albums with the band and after three-years is about to drop his forth solo outing, Streetlight Music, which will be released on 4-22-08. 

Streetlight Music is an homage to the earliest days of Hip-Hop, when jams were thrown in the park and electricity was boosted to power the turntables, amps and equipment.  The content of the LP is both a throwback to the days when originality was king and a push towards new styles and developments; which is reflected by the inclusion of rap legends Masta Ace, Murs of Living Legends, El Da Sensai of The Artifacts and one of Hip-Hop’s original godfathers Grandmaster Caz of the Cold Crush Brothers; its blue collar Hip-Hop for blue collar fans laced with intelligence and FMJ’s sharp cynical wit.

Minority Owned Company Launches New Web Portal

Nanolive (www.nanolive.com) announces today the launch of Nanolive.com, a new dedicated Information and Social Web Portal Service.

A free service for all web users, Nanolive.com offers Small Business services, Webcam chat, instant messaging, photo and video services, and tailored content that includes local sports, entertainment, finance, health, movies, music, articles, travel, autos, dating and much more.

Nanolive is a leading provider of Web Communication Services. Rated amongst the most trusted platforms on the Internet, Nanolive.com has been successful as a Web Services Provider for the last 5 years. The launch of Nanolive.com Portal marks the beginning of an ambitious global expansion for the corporation. Nanolive plans to add more services, such as email, VOIP and additional business services to its already impressive product line.

Nanolive.com offers consumers an attractive online destination, bringing together a range of content, interactive services and safety features in a single location. Communication services includes Nanolive A/V IM, Webcam Chat, Nanolive Video and audio conference chat and, soon to be available, Nano Community, all of which are state-of-the-art, custom applications.

Mahendra Goswami, President of Nanolive Inc, said: “We’re very pleased to be launching Nanolive Portal. It is a rapidly growing online market, with high penetration and huge opportunities for online advertising. Launching a dedicated portal here will help us compete for both users and advertisers. Nanolive has the heritage, the infrastructure and the scale to offer consumers a strong local portal that meets the needs of all online users.”

Among the features of the new Nanolive Portal is: 

• Nanolive IM, an advanced instant messaging application featuring offline messages, picture and video sharing, personalization, grouped messaging and simultaneous multiple accounts.
• Nanolive’s Photo Service allows unlimited storage of images at original resolution, and easy sharing via Blogs, IM and chat.
• Nanolive’s Video product features video uploading and sharing tools, as well as the ability to upload videos from Youtube and/or Webcam.
• A powerful Web Search Service, Nanolive.com simultaneously displays local and international information from multiple search engines (MSN, Yahoo, Ask and Google).
• Numerous content channels including News, Sports, Celebrity, Cinema, Travel, Health, Real Estate, Autos, Shopping, Dating, Music, Finance, Education, Blogs, Forum and Games are already available. More channels will be added later.
• Nanolive’s small businesses solutions, businesses and merchants can quickly and cost effectively get their business online and promote their products and services.
• Users also have the ability to post Articles, Podcast and Blogs to share with the world.

Goswami continued: “The Portal is one of the key engines of growth for Nanolive. This market is growing faster with online advertising spending in US forecast to grow by 25% per year until 2009.* By launching dedicated portals that have real appeal in local markets, we are well placed to take advantage of this opportunity. Nanolive is already extremely successful in Web Services with over one million users, and the launch of this new portal underlines our commitment to the Planet. We understand the needs of the local markets and are building on our heritage to create local language portals appealing to consumers and advertisers alike.”

The portal launch is the latest in Nanolive’s efforts to grow its worldwide audience. Over the past year, Nanolive has transitioned itself to a global Web-based Communication Company. Nanolive is focused on products and programming leadership on the Web; rapid international growth; and, building a world-leading network. In recent months, the corporation revamped its product and programming line-up; it plans to launch Nanolive Portals in India and other growing countries in several regions worldwide.

About Nanolive (www.nanolive.com)

The Nanolive.com Portal is owned and operated by Nanolive Inc., a U.S.-based corporation that offers global Web services and operates some of the most popular Web products. Nanolive, Inc., also offers a comprehensive suite of software development, as well as Multimedia and Animation services named Mesh Infotech.

Nanolive Inc. also plans to launch multi-language portals and services in different countries.

LOUD.COM ANNOUNCES FINALISTS IN RAP CONTEST: WINNER TO RECEIVE SRC/UNIVERSAL MOTOWN FOR RECORDING CONTRACT AND $100,000

LOUD.com announced today that they are in the final stages of their rap contest to award an aspiring rapper $100,000 and a recording contract with partner SRC/Universal Records. The original group of thousands of aspiring rappers has been trimmed down to the final nine, who have been dubbed as “The Finalists” and they will embark upon a six-part series of tasks to determine the winner by showcasing their musicianship, as well as their self-marketing and entrepreneurial skills. 

During the process, each artist will be required to take their career into their own hands.  The “Finalists” will have to show signs of being a self-contained artist.  Among other things, they will have to record a song and be in charge of creating visibility for their song, including being responsible for their own video production.

Each “Finalist” will be evaluated by a board made up of Steve Rifkind (founder of Loud Records, which released landmark recordings by Wu-Tang Clan, Mobb Deep and Big Pun, among many others), a premier Loud.com producer and a respected hip-hop community manager. Once the winner is chosen by the board, SRC Records will sign the rapper to the label and begin the marketing and promotion process in an effort to make the winner hip-hop’s next star.

“This initiative by LOUD.com is closing the entrance barrier to the music industry for talented, aspiring rappers and is a great way for SRC to recruit an artist that already has the foundation for success,” says Steve Rifkind, founder of Loud Records. “LOUD.com is at the forefront of the next movement in hip-hop, giving artists the tools and resources they need to create material and be heard by influencers in the industry.”

###

About LOUD.COM

LOUD.COM is an online competition, open to all registered users.  LOUD.com offers users the ability to download professional beats from hip-hop’s hottest producers for just .99 cents, use a unique on-line recording tool to overlay raps over the tracks, have the songs judged by celebrity producers and compete for $100,000 and a record deal with SRC Records, home of multi Platinum, Grammy Awarding winning artist such as Akon and David Banner.  LOUD producers have made hits for The Notorious B.I.G., 50 Cent, The Game, Jim Jones, Lil Jon, Rick Ross, Talib Kweli, Mary J. Blige, Kanye West, Busta Rymes and many more. Log on to LOUD.COM now!

One Stop Shop Round Up

One Stop Shop Round Up M Phazes puts Australia on the Hip-Hop map

PHOENIX, ARIZONA 2008 Over five hundred producers and industry professionals congregated last weekend in downtown Phoenix for the One Stop Shop conference masterminded by the Money Management Group. Panels which included Swizz Beatz, DJ Premier, DJ Toomp, Mr. Porter, Lenny S (Def Jam), Arif Gursel (Microsoft/Zune), Shalik Berry (Universal) and Wendy Day plus many more kept the attendees busy for the two day duration. ‘What people have to remember is that we as producers are the tightest of fraternities,’ said North Carolina’s 9th Wonder and looking around the room it was evident that 9th’s statement rang true for all those who had come out to network and promote at the second annual conference of this kind. “The best part had to be producers acknowledging and thanking our team for the positive energy & atmosphere. When there’s over 400 young black men, connecting & building amongst themselves and other cultures, you can’t help but  feel proud. What’s better than providing a productive place for our future hit-makers? Can’t wait to put it down again next year.” – Kisha, MMG Marketing Director “The One stop Shop Producer Conference is what any artist, a&r or music executive should be attending and taking advantage of. Not going isn’t an option for me. I can meet and hear music from all the new upcoming producers as well as keep in touch and connect with the A list established super Producers like DJ Premier, Swizz Beats, DJ Toomp and Denaun Porter. Being that these producers live in different cities on top of being really hectic, It usually takes me weeks and sometimes months to meet with them but at the One Stop Shop, I can knock it out in 2 days. Works for me. I wouldn’t miss it for anything”. - Lenny S (Def Jam) The highlight of the One Stop Shop was the I-Standard hosted Beat Battle which saw four producers face off in front of a celebrity panel of judges which was made up of DJ Toomp, No ID, DJ Premier, Ninth Wonder, Swizz Beatz, Don Cannon, Mr. Porter and Touch. The finalists in this years battle were Canei, M-Phazes, S-1 and Dual Output whose creativity was applauded by both the crowd and the judges. The unanimous winner decided upon not only by crowd participation but by a panel responsible for over 100 million records sold was the Australian based M-Phazes. His usage of a Notorious BIG sample on the eleventh anniversary of  rappers demise was a great tribute to a Hip-Hop legend “Hands down to M Phazes, he is about to go through a great phase in his life.” – Sha Money XL “My best regards go to the producer  of the Beat battle in phoenix, he had some hot shit. That’s what it takes to win in the game” – Don Cannon of the Aphilliates “M Phases blew me away with his sound” – Jake One The Gold Coast Producer is no novice to Hip-Hop, having produced tracks that have featured artists such as Sean Price, CL Smooth, Skyzoo and Termanology. “Being from Australia and having the best producers in the game jumping around and going crazy for my beats was a huge thing for me and for my country.  Winning this battle has already opened up doors for me and I’m looking forward to the future,” M Phazes explained about his recent victory.